Has its moments but ultimately not worth watching
Added 10/26/2009
The Bottom Line:
How the West Was Won was a high-concept, star-studded, old-time epic composed of five different segments designed to showcase the three-strip Cinerama process and viewed today it's little more than a curio: the lack of continuity between the segments and the fact that the best two come first unfortunately make this distinct but overlong picture more fitting to be the answer to trivia questions than as Friday night's entertainment.
2.5/4
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A BLU-RAY REFERENCE!
Added 9/3/2009
When high-quality, low-speed Kodachrome slide film became available many years ago, that product was a justification for photographers to invest in the best 35-mm. cameras available, such as Leica. Kodachrome film shot with a Leica camera became a reference.
The TV western classic of the late 1950's and 1960's, "Bonanza", with its wonderful color photography, provided many an American family with justification to invest in the emerging technology of color television. "Bonanza" was the reference TV show that displayed what color televisions of the time could do.
"How the West was Won", a contemporary along with "Bonanza", went to great lengths to show how beautiful the American West was, using the three-camera process of Cinerama to demonstrate to the public this cutting-edge method of cinematography. Today, Cinerama still remains the best process ever invented to film a Hollywood epic, surpassing even that of IMAX. It is too bad that it was a cumbersome and expensive process to work with, and did not meet with the full approval of the three directors involved with the filming of HTWWW. But what visual magnificence is evident in this film! Thank goodness that Time-Warner went back to the original Eastman negative and developed technology to eliminate or minimize the disconcerting film joins of the three Cinerama projectors in transferring this classic to DVD and Blu-Ray. The results of their efforts are evident, and based on the other Blu-Ray movies I have and have seen, HTWWW can justifiably be considered as a Blu-Ray reference!
Other reviewers critical of the "Smilebox" process transferring HTWWW onto a second disc that mimics the Cinerama curved screen should give it a second view. The reason I say this is because I've noticed that object movement on the right and left panels of the 3-camera film joins is less distorted in the Smilebox transfer than on the normal screen transfer. Give the same scenes another look in both versions (such as the river raft sequence) and compare.
Regardless of your age and film content preferences, if you are just starting into Blu-Ray, make this film one of your "must-purchase" items! You will not be disappointed, and will definitely see how the Blu-Ray HTWWW shows off the capabilities of your high-definition TV or computer monitor.
6 out of 6 people found this helpful.
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western movie
Added 8/30/2009
Still enjoy those grand scale western adventure movies. They just don't make-em like this anymore.
Suggest buying this one, if you like westerns.
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Cinerama lives again!
Added 8/29/2009
Wow! I'm old enough (don't ask!) to remember when this movie was first released in Cinerama and it was a huge hit! Over the years I've seen it on TV and occasionally in theaters in Cinemascope but it was never the same. But now when large screen TV's are affordable this new release appears which simulates the Cinerama experience pretty effectively! The very handsome package includes a souvenier booklet and two blu-ray disks which contain the movie in the usual letterbox format but also in the new "Smilebox" format which simulates the curved screen of Cinerama. And it really works! It was great fun to see this great classic again the way it was intended to be seen and at Amazon's price it's a bargain too. BTW, there's a feature length documentary about Cinerama included which also demonstrates the "Smilebox" process.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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a cinema epic blooms anew...
Added 8/14/2009
MGM's mammoth, Cinerama epic HOW THE WEST WAS WON has never looked or sounded better than in this new state-of-the-art High Definition digital restoration, eliminating the "join lines" to create an impressive vista screen; which is even more scrumptious on Blu Ray.
HOW THE WEST WAS WON was one of two Cinerama movies released by MGM in 1962 (the other being "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm"). Covering the years 1838 through 1889, the story revolves around the fates and fortunes of the Prescott family as they attempt to tame the wilds of the western frontier. The first half of the movie focuses on daughter Lilith (Debbie Reynolds), whose journey takes her across the Erie Canal, then along the great wagon-train migration and finally into the arms of handsome gambler Cleve van Valen (Gregory Peck).
In the second act, we meet Lilith's nephew Zeb (George Peppard), who leaves the small Prescott farm to fight in the Civil War; going on to become a marshall in peace-time. The historical sweep of HOW THE WEST WAS WON is the main reason why it's still so incredibly entertaining all these years later; and miraculously--despite being directed by no less than four great filmmakers (John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall and Richard Thorpe)--it does feel like one unified piece.
Despite it's reputation as a star-studded extravaganza, in truth the film quite rightly belongs to Debbie Reynolds and George Peppard who play the key roles in both acts of the story; but the supporting gallery of players--very impressive even by today's standards--boasts Carroll Baker, John Wayne, Karl Malden, Robert Preston, Eli Wallach and Richard Widmark.
The Blu Ray release includes a bonus 'Smilebox' print of the film, which replicates the curved Cinerama screen experience--quite a treat! The Cinerama process involved using three 35mm cameras to capture a scene and then projecting them side-by-side onto a louvered 3-panel screen; making it larger than most other 'scope' processes. The system was later eclipsed by CinemaScope, Technirama and other, less expensive widescreen formats.
HOW THE WEST WAS WON sparkles wonderfully on BD, and comes equipped with a fantastic audio commentary in addition to the feature-length documentary "Cinerama Adventure" which delves into the history of the camera process (but sadly doesn't dwell much on the making of HTWWW).
So go ahead and pop the disc in the player... I guarantee you'll get chills up and down your spine during the first few notes of the Main Title! A mandatory title for classic movie fans, especially on BD.
4 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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fascinating , "trippy" , inexpensive discovery
Added 11/7/2009
this film (not the JOHN WAYNE collection pictured near it) was released the year of my birth . it's the same film as the WAYNE one . to characterize it as a WAYNE feature is extremely misleading . he's bairly in it . i'm not going to address the transfer as i'm not that sort of "PHILE" to whom these things are of the least import . hell . when i was a youth we were perhaps begining to examine color as a television option . there were no remotes or cable . nothing was letterboxed but our U.S. MAIL. i read a swell write up about the film on an online film site in which the author praised the film (i paid three dollars new at a discount store) as "trippy" . that's a pretty good and accurate description . the film required three fine directors including JOHN FORD to make . to me , the most interesting thing about the film (besides the involving and compelling story it tells) is the median age of the (allegedly) desirable male leads . with the exception of a very youthful GEORGE PEPPARD , these men are all in their 50s . simultainiously , all the certainly desirable women are in their late 20s to early 30s . perhaps that was how the west was won ? perhaps that's how the men who made the film would like to envision it ? worth a look and some reading for the unusual technique used to make this and less than twenty other films . recommended .
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Historic Panorama
Added 10/16/2008
These days, American history has been minimized in schools, under the guise of "cultural diversity." This film may not fully correct this, but it does provide an idea of what the United States' cultural roots have been.
The story begins tracing the story of a family migrating from the eastern states to the frontier of the time, and of a mountain man, a trapper who interacted with western American Indians well beyond the explored lands. The family meets tragedy, with one of the daughters and the mountain man falling in love, and the other daughter -- a free spirit of the time -- living a wilder life as a singer and entertainer.
From the post-revolutionary world through the Civil War and beyond, the stories of the two branches of the family are shown, covering the sweep of historic events until the close of the 19th Century, not counting a rapid epilog.
The film was sjot in Cinerama, using the original three-camera process, so thwere is a discernable jiggle at the two joins between the photos, and naturally, the scope of the original is literally minimized on the average video screen. Yet this is counterbalamced by really striking scenes of the untamed wiorld of the pioneers.
The film is also more honest than many is the dealings between the settlers and the American Indians, showing cases of how treaties were broken, and the natural reaction for such actions.
The film has formidible star power, with many of the top stars from the time it was shot present in significant roles.
Hardly a perfect film, but it does provide some perspective of how the nation developed.
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CORRECTION ON THIS FILM'S HISTORY
Added 9/10/2008
As an admirer of the original film since seeing it in the original three-screen Cinerama process when I was a kid, I hate to inform you all that, although released in Europe first, it was NOT the first feature film in the three-screen Cinerama process (although it was the last).
George Pal's "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" was the first -- released in 1962 in the three-screen process. I still have the original road-show souvenir book and it states it clearly. "Bros. Grimm" was the first, "How the West was Won" was the second -- then, because of so much revenue being generated from its "ordinary theatrical release" the company was forced to make a compromise: A single-lens, single-curved screen process for future Cinerama productions. This was initiated with Stanley Kramer's "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and followed by such films as Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" and John Sturges' "The Hallelujah Trail". I just needed to get the facts straight here.
Incidentaly, this three-lens, three-screen process of "Bros. Grimm" and "How the West Was Won" is why the DVD release has unavoidably two lines running down the middle, and the strange effect of, say, a wagon rolling horizontally seeming to be constantly riding in a warped circle. This is because of the three screens being flattened back onto a straight surface.
One more thing: Alfred Newman's great score for "How the West Was Won" is truly one of the greatest western film scores in history (even quoted in other films as a quintessential western score -- check out the Western fantasy sequence in "Romancing the Stone") and to hear it in true 5.1 sound is worth the price alone!
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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